The Komondor history.

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The Komondor is a breed of Hungarian origin. His ancestors migrated with the Magyar tribes from the East to Hungary in 896 aC. Apart from this fact, the rest is uncertain. According to some theories the Komondor and the Ovcharka, a Southrussian breed originate both from an for the moment unknown breed. What is known, is that the 2 breeds developed independantly from each other, the Komondor in Hungary & the Ovcharka in the Ukraine, under different climates & circumstances. At first the Komondor was used to independantly protect "his" flock of sheep. His fearless character made him the first line of defense against predators like wolves and sometimes even a bear.

Pre 1920 the Komondor was only known as workdog and this made him not very interresting to the general public. The first breedstandard was made up by doctor Rajsits Emil in 1921 and the first Hungarian Komondorclub came to life in 1924. These enthousiasts made the breed to what is is today.

From 1930 on Europe and later also the US became interested in the Komondor. Around this time the first Komondor outside Hungary was registered in Germany. Hungarian immigrants introduced the Komondor on their farms in the US. The coyote was a real nightmare and the use of the Komondor as a guarddog for the protection of the sheep made this stop. His independant nature made him really cut out for the job. His thick coat was very usefull in battle with one or more predators. Their bite was not affective and so the predator had to leave with nothing. Around this periode A lot of Hungarian farmers switched from livestock to growing nature products and so the Komondor wasn't needed asherdingdog anymore. Fortunatly many of Hungarians kept him as guarddog.

During World War II a lot of Komondorok were killed by the Germans. After the war, the rise of the breed was very hard. Only in 1960 the Komondorpopulation would fully recover from this ordeal. But in the US the popularity of the breed grew. Oskar Beregi, a televisionactor with Hungarian blood had a great part in this. In the 70's the Komondor showed up in France but he really made his mark only 7 years later. He was primarily used as guarddog, a job he can do very well. The first Komondor registered in Belgium was around the end of the 60's. Their could have been Komondork in Belgium earlier, who were not registered, because in the 50's a lot of Hungarians came to Belgium for political reasons and it is not impossible that these immigrants brought their dog with them, for example a Komondor or a Puli.

If necessary, the Komondor can protect his flock and live with it, without the help of a humen being. But these days his herding abillities are not so needed anymore.Hij kan, als het moet, zonder mensen om zich heen leven om zijn kudde te bewaken. Nowadays he is used to guard the property of his owner and by absence of a herd, he considers his family to be his herd. So if we go for a walk at for example the beach our Artbel makes sure that nobody stays behind are gets to far upfront. But this "herd" doesn't matter.